27.9.12

University of Antwerp · 12 - 14 December 2012

University of Antwerp

Kafka and the Paradox of the Universal
An International Conference
University of Antwerp, 12-14 December 2012
(Hof van Liere, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen)

Jean-Paul Sartre’s saying that “Kafka’s testimony is all the more universal as it is profoundly singular” is indicative of a key paradox in the 20th century Kafka reception which has wide-reaching implications for our understanding of the interface between literature and philosophy. Kafka is indeed often regarded as the ultimate witness to the human condition in the 20th century and, like Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe in their times, is attributed a universal significance. Yet Kafka’s work is also known for expressing the irreducibly singular and unclassifiable. The various conceptions of universality and singularity that underlie these attributions as well as the different guises in which the paradox of their simultaneity appears will be explored in this three-day conference at the University of Antwerp.

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Stanley Corngold - Princeton University
Prof. Rodolphe Gasché - University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Prof. David Suchoff - Colby College
Prof. Jean-Michel Rabaté - University of Pennsylvania